


reborn and shivering, spat out on new terrain

by forcynics



Series: vampire diaries ficathon fills [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, post-werewolf transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-08
Updated: 2011-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-24 02:49:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6138762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forcynics/pseuds/forcynics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first word to leave his mouth as he learns how to shape words again, and it figures that it would be her name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	reborn and shivering, spat out on new terrain

 

 

 

Everything has changed.

He’s lying there on ground, curled up tight and shaking, and he’s never felt so raw or broken in his life. Coherent thought is slowly slipping back to him, after a world of pain and fear and hurt and terror and absolutely no control. He never wants to go through that again. That’s the first thought he’s capable of forming, but it’s useless. He will have to go through that – _this –_ over and over again for the rest of his life, for all he knows. It’s already taken something away from him and he wonders, if he has to continue losing a piece of himself every time, if there will one day be nothing left.

And then he hears his name, in her voice, tentative and far away.

“Caroline,” he manages to croak, the first word to leave his mouth as he learns how to shape words again, and it figures that it would be her name.

Then it’s his name again, again and again in that lovely voice, or maybe it’s all in his head, but too quickly – and yet nothing could be quick enough – she’s at his side, arms thrown around him, her head dipped down to his. Her skin is so cool against his own, burning, and they’re fire and ice in this world of their own.

He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move, because everything is pressing in all around him and he doesn’t trust himself to do anything except stay where he is, in her embrace, and try and come to grips with the startling new reality of the world. He knew that this was going to happen but there was no way he could have anticipated how much it would change him. He thought knowing had already changed him but where it opened his eyes to a new part of life, the transformation has dumped him into a new life entirely.

It’s too much for him to handle. He doesn’t have a choice but he can’t do this, he just can’t do this.

She’s whispering to him as she holds him tightly. “You didn’t get out... you’re okay.”

And all he can do is shake his head almost imperceptibly and whisper “No, I’m not.”

Nothing is ever going to be the same.

 

 

 

He’s avoiding her. She tries to give him space, tries to wait however long this is going to take. Three days pass and she’s ready to snap.

“Tyler!” She’s resorted to this, calling his name loudly in the school parking lot with lots of people around so he won’t be able to just ignore her.

Annoyingly enough, he still tries and she has to actually grab his arm and repeat herself, “Tyler!” He can’t ignore her now.

A turn of his head, eyebrow raised, earbud pulled out of his ear. She knows he heard her the first time anyways.

“What’s up, Forbes?”

Oh, so that’s the way it’s going to go. Her grip on his arm tightens involuntarily, “ _Really_ , Tyler?” hissed between her teeth.

“What?”

He’s staring at her dumbly. She wants to slap the dumb off his face.

“You can’t just pretend nothing happened,” she finally says quietly, fingers loosening around his arm. She licks her suddenly-dry lips, feeling oddly self-conscious about standing here talking to him with god-knows-who watching.

But she stops caring about that as the mask drops off his face for a moment, justa hint of pain – a flinch – and then he’s glancing around them, eyes shifting back and forth. Too many people.

She doesn’t protest when he grabs _her_ arm, pulls her with him over to his car and opens the passenger door.

“What are we doing?” She’s already climbing in.

“Getting away,” is the only answer he gives, and she says nothing else, just bites her lips and studies him as he turns the key in the engine. Then they’re wheeling out of the parking lot, even though it’s the middle of the day, even though Caroline Forbes does _not_ skip school. Some things are more important. And this, them? Right now, she can’t think of anything it wouldn’t be more important than.

 

 

 

It’s a silent drive and he’d wonder if he should be saying something but it’s not exactly a small-talk sort of atmosphere. He’s getting his thoughts in order. But mostly, he’s staring at the road in front of him and keeping his foot on the gas and trying not to think at all.

When they’ve driven a few miles out of town – he doesn’t have a clue exactly how many but there’s only field to be seen around them – he finally pulls over. They get out, still silent. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen her silent for so long.

He paces away, a few feet into the field, hands clenched behind his head. He briefly wonders how many other guys in the world have assumed the exact same stance when processing news that they refuse to deal with. He’s pretty sure he can top most of them when it comes to that news.

He wonders how Mason took it when he found out. He wonders why Mason just left him to deal with all of this alone. But would his uncle even have been able to help? Even if he was here, Tyler would still be going through this alone.

Turning around, bent over slightly, he sees her staring at him, standing on the other side of the car.

Maybe not as alone as he thinks.

 

 

 

All throughout the drive, his expression was empty, only the tightness of his jaw giving him away. Now he turns around and his face is crumpled, taking her right back to the night in the cellar.

She’s a blur, in front of him immediately, arms twined around his neck, holding him. Catching him.

She hears a sniff, or maybe a gasp through clenched teeth, and then his arms are around her too, holding _her_ close.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispers, revising what she said that night. She knows it’s not okay right now, it couldn’t possibly be okay now. But it will be, she has to believe that it will be. And Tyler has to believe that it will be too.

“ _We’re_ going to be okay,” she adds, exhaling and nestling her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling. She’s thankful that Stefan took her hunting before school, as it has diluted her urges – although, honestly, she can’t imagine she’d let something like _that_ surface now. Right now, they’re untouchable.

He’s nodding, she feels it, and it’s not words, it’s not an agreement, but it’s a start. Then his head is lifting and hers follows suits and it’s a hand under her chin and a kiss on her mouth, gentle enough to break her and sweet enough to make her sway closer into him.

They’re standing there, in a field, in the middle of nowhere, the car idling a few feet away, but they could be standing anywhere, on the edge of the world – a whole, new world.

 

 

 


End file.
